


Yuqi the Babysitter

by vividegoist



Series: SONG YUQI [1]
Category: (여자)아이들 | (G)I-DLE, Cherry Bullet (Band), GWSN (Band), HINAPIA (Band), ITZY (Band), LOONA (Korea Band), fromis_9 (Band)
Genre: F/F, hope this isnt too bad ksksjdkd, yuqi will go thru a LOT
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:55:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23759461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vividegoist/pseuds/vividegoist
Summary: The title pretty much says it all. Yuqi, a member of Station #1 and part of the cyber intelligence unit, is tasked by Haseul to babysit her little sister, Jo Yeojin as well the gremlin's friends. Yuqi's journey goes on from there!
Series: SONG YUQI [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1711606
Kudos: 8





	Yuqi the Babysitter

In a messy bedroom full of little machinery and electronic devices, there lay a sleeping girl, snoring audibly as she slept comfortably in her bed. It remained peacefully, aside from the buzzing of a computer somewhere in her room, until the alarm began blaring suddenly, causing the girl in her sleep as she snuggled deeper into her blanket. A woman called from downstairs. 

“Yuqi!! Shut off your alarm!”

Groggily, she reached on the counter to search for it while knocking things over onto the floor. The sleeping technician finally felt the alarm through its vibration and slammed it on her counter, satisfied when it stopped ringing. Reluctantly getting out of bed, Yuqi stumbled out of her messy bedroom to go brush her teeth and get ready for work. She fixed up her hair and with a large comb before tying it into pigtail braids. Walking back into her room, she then grabbed her backpack and briefcase. After putting on her usual dark brown, plaid coat and detective cap, Yuqi looked in the mirror with satisfaction before heading out of her house. But then her mom suddenly called her name. The technician turned around surprised, looking over to see what she needed. 

“Yuqi-ah, you forgot your glasses.”

“Oh, right! Thanks mom!”

“Don’t forget to look after your health in work, and please don’t faint again!”

“Mom! We’re in a neighborhood.” Yuqi quickly stopped her from shouting any louder and motioned to the houses around them. 

“Sorry, sweetie. I can’t help it after hearing you went to Daegu.”

“I’ll be fine, mom. I’m just working with my friends.”

“Well make sure they can protect you, otherwise, you’re fighting on your own.”

“I _can_ fight on my own, mom. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be a cop.”

“Alright, alright, now hurry off to work before you’re late!”

“Ok, bye mom!”

“See you at home later!”

Yuqi ran towards the bus stop as quickly as she could so she wouldn’t miss it like last time. The girl sat on a seat nearest to the door before going on her phone and looking through her social media accounts. She smiled at some hilarious things her friends posted about funny life struggles, school work, planned schedules, etc. Yuqi then looked out the window next to her and viewed the streets of Seoul. She’d memorized certain directions and areas closely after traveling by bus for the past months of living here. The young technician remembered the times when she was first introduced into Haseul’s station when the captain herself announced that Yuqi would become a new member. Everyone welcomed her warmly, all of them introducing themselves to her. She was more than relieved when she found out the station had other foreigners like Vivi and Shuhua, who’d greatly helped her adapt after moving away from China. 

After four months or so of being a part of the station and police force, Yuqi loved her job. Aside from doing stuff like that horrid Daegu mission, everything else was fine. Her bus ride finally stopped when she finally arrived at her destination. Yuqi quickly got off and thanked the bus driver as he drove away. The girl walked towards a familiar building before entering through the glass doors, greeting all of her friends inside. 

“Hey, Yuqi!” Heejin waved from across the room.

“Morning!” The technician returned the gesture as she took a seat at her desk next to Shuhua’s. “Whatcha working on?” She curiously looked over at the younger’s desk.

“Just the usual stuff.” Shuhua didn’t really look away from her computer, which kinda creeped Yuqi out because of how focused she was. 

“How long have you been watching this??”

“Since 5am.” The technician’s eyes widened, wondering why she was so dedicated to them. 

“Haseul assigned them to me, so I must finish viewing these by the afternoon.”

“She set that deadline for you?”

“No, I have all week, but I will finish in a few hours.”

“Alright…won’t wanna interrupt you then.” 

With that being said, Yuqi took out her old GoPro camera and some tools, setting it on her table as she took a closer look at the broken object. The camera lens was broken, wires sticking out here and there, batteries crushed, and many, many more. Yuqi pouted at the sight as she set her broken camera down on the table and took a closer look at it. Luckily, she’d brought some new replacement wires, super glue, and additional batteries from her garage, thus, Yuqi was more than ready to fix the camera. Since she still had some free time for now, the girl spent hours repairing the damages. 

Shuhua didn’t bat an eye once as she was too busy focusing on keeping watch of the CCTV footages from Seoul High School. After a while, Yuqi would occasionally look over to see if there was anything interesting on Shuhua’s screen, only to glance away every time she felt bored. But on top of that, her camera was starting to come along, looking as brand new as the first she ever bought. Yuqi smiled happily when she saw the lights illuminating before continuing on with fixing the rest of the camera. As it was reaching closer to night time, the tech geek decided to take a break for a little, feeling she’ll begin repairing again later. Yuqi was surprised Haseul didn’t notice her avoiding actual work to fix her camera, but it felt relieving nonetheless. 

She clicked the last piece back in place onto the GoPro cameras and sighed in content before pushing the power button to see if it was truly fixed. The screen blared to life for a brief second before static took over once again. Yuqi sighed and banged her head on the table, a single moment of victory for nothing. Meanwhile, everyone else was doing their own thing as always. Yeojin and Sooyoung were playing games at the older’s desk, Vivi and Haseul socializing, Shuhua concentrating like usual, while Hyunjin, Heejin, Chaewon and Yeji sat at their table. After some back and arm stretching, Yuqi sighed and picked up her tools again. While she resumed fixing, however, the girl began hearing her friends’ conversation. 

“Ah, my apologies.” She noticed Yeji speak. “Who are you with? If I may ask?” 

“She’s Son Hyejoo….” 

Yuqi perked up when she heard the familiar, yet unfamiliar name. It mentioned many times when the tech geek had started working in the station, mostly by Chaewon. Her other friends had said Hyejoo’s name before, but since Yuqi never really met this mysterious girl, she felt left out of conversation sometimes. Although wanting to ask who exactly Hyejoo was, Yuqi didn’t know how to bring her up since every time anyone in the station talked about her, they always seemed sorrowful, thus, she backed off.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t—” 

“No no, it’s fine, don’t worry about it. We’re all wondering where she could be right now. She especially has a lot of explaining to do once we find her.”

“Knowing Hyejoo, she’s really strong.” Yuqi glanced up to see Heejin holding Chaewon’s hand in a comforting way. “I’m sure she’s alright.”

Curiosity was beginning to take over her mind. The tech geek couldn’t help but imagine how Hyejoo looked, based on her friend’s descriptions. She hasn’t seen a photo of the girl at all, but all Yuqi knew was that Hyejoo was younger than her by two years, which shocked her as she couldn’t believe a teenager would just suddenly disappear without a trace for a few years. Yuqi frowned, thinking what could’ve happened to Hyejoo that caused her to go missing. No one even knew if she was still alive. The tech geek then turned towards her fellow technician, who remained staring at her computer monitor with a poker face. It was really starting to creep Yuqi out. 

“Hey, Shuhua.”

“What, Yuqi?”

“Have you known Hyejoo?”

“Uuuhh sure? We’ve talked once during some criminal cases, but that was it.”

“You have?! How come you’ve never told me?”

“Why?”

“Because I’m curious. I wanna know more about her.”

“You might wanna think about that. We don’t know her as much as everyone else so it shouldn’t be any of our business.” 

“Oh. Well, I guess but she seems like a really cool person. Wouldn’t you get really curious when your friends talk about how amazing she is when you’ve never met her? Come on, it can’t just be me.” 

The more questions thrown at her, the more Shuhua was getting slightly irritated. She then proceeded to remove her headphones momentarily and shifted in her seat to give Yuqi her full attention. Shuhua arched an eyebrow when she saw the older looking at her with eyes full of curiosity. It reminded her of an innocent child. 

“Which is exactly why it’s not our business. Now if you would let me continue my work, that would be nice.” The younger girl wore her headphones back on to refocus on her task. 

“I’m just saying, I mean. She’s been gone for two whole years, so do you think she’s still alive?” 

Suddenly, Shuhua looked at Yuqi with wide eyes, mixed with shock, fear, and anger all at once. Her attention shifted back and forth from the tech geek to the rest of their friends, trying to signal to Yuqi that she just messed up big time. Although still confused, the older girl got the message and hesitantly looked behind her, only to be surprised everyone’s eyes were all on her. Yuqi almost stumbled back in fear as she glanced around as if asking what was wrong. Truthfully, she didn’t realize the harm in her question.

“Oh my god, Chaewon, I’m so sorry. I swear, I didn’t mean it!” 

Despite her desperation, the situation was already hectic when the blonde bursted into tears, prompting everyone in the room to immediately embrace her. Vivi and Sooyoung were quick to tell Yuqi she’d made a mistake for assuming such an irrational thing as Haseul hastily pulled aside to lecture the clueless girl. They informed Yuqi many things like she should’ve been more sensitive, considerate, etc., while Shuhua stood next to the emotional tech geek, facepalming herself. She guiltily nodded to everything the co-captains stated, having her head down the whole time. Afterwards, they lightly smacked Yuqi’s head and reminded her to formally apologize to Chaewon later. 

“You’re lucky Haseul isn’t here right now, otherwise she would’ve given you a whole one hour lecture as a consequence.” Sooyoung informed her. 

“Oh….”

“And remember, don’t insinuate things like, ever, alright?”

“Yeah, I won’t ever again.” Yuqi stated with utmost sincerity and nodded. 

“Good.”

“Since when were you so curious about Hyejoo anyway?” Vivi spoke up to question. 

“Since I first got here.” They both sighed, understanding how she feels. 

“Fine, let’s go to my office.”

Surprised, Yuqi did as Vivi said as they all sat together at her desk. It was just the three of them in the room while everyone was still outside comforting an emotional Chaewon. The co-captains basically told Yuqi everything she needed to know about Hyejoo; how she was one of the best officers in the team, a top student during the academy and many more. Hyejoo had solved lots of crimes and was well known in the police force, admired by everyone. Yuqi was constantly amazed every time she heard little stories about Hyejoo and all of the fascinating accomplishments she’d done in her career as a detective and police officer. Sooyoung then went on about Hyejoo’s relationship with Chaewon and how complicated it was in the beginning. Yuqi was touched at how the blonde had eventually moved on after a while and they started dating after Hyejoo confessed. 

But then she was heartbroken when hearing about the younger’s sudden disappearance one night. No one still knows where she was at the moment and it made Yuqi feel like she wanted to help out, too. She felt horrible when hearing about her friends’ reactions to when the news reported about Hyejoo going missing and it quickly went cold as there wasn’t a single trace of her at all. But none of them gave up so easily, especially Hyunjin and Heejin. 

“Oh no…that’s terrible. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s fine. We’re doing better than before.” Sooyoung responded, though feeling a bit emotional when the bad memories were coming back. 

“But it's a miracle the case reopened after someone sent us a tape of Hyejoo’s last voice recording. Luckily, more is being done now than ever.”

“That’s good! Is there any other way I can help?” 

“I’m sure Hyunjin and Heejin got it all under cover, but maybe if they ask for your help or you’re required to go on a mission with them again.” 

“Oh, right.” Yuqi nodded to Vivi’s statement.

_Anything but Daegu._

“Now when Haseul gets back from her little date in Gangnam, she might have a punishment for you so I guess wait till tomorrow morning.” The oldest concluded in the conversation.

“Aw man…how bad is it gonna be?”

“I’ve known Haseul since high school, so I’m pretty sure she’ll be lenient about it.”

“Okay!” Yuqi exclaimed with relief, only because she still had no idea what she was in for.

Hyunjin, Heejin, Chaewon and Yeji decided to leave first so they could comfort their blonde friend by giving her a ride home while everyone called it a day as well. For the next few hours or so, everyone else in the station continued doing their work, all while hoping that Chaewon would be okay. Vivi had told the group that they needed anything to let the rest of the station know quickly, to which they all nodded to. Sooyoung had notified Haseul what had happened during her date in Gangnam with Saerom as the captain was quick enough to message Yuqi her punishment. The girl slumped in her chair upon receiving Haseul’s text, softly groaning in agony. Eyes were closed momentarily for a few minutes, just letting the information sink in until it was real. When Yuqi opened her eyes again, Yeojin was standing right above, staring directly down at her with a playful grin. 

“Sup!” Yeojin greeted, oblivious to the despair Yuqi was feeling inside. She gave her a weak wave in return. 

“…hello.” The older girl greeted back an empty tone. 

“Aw don’t be like that. You don’t have to worry about me one bit! I’ll behave.” Yeojin did some puppy eyes and clasped her hands together. Yuqi didn’t fall for it. Yet. 

“Right. We’ll see once we go home to your house.”

“Can we watch movies late at night?”

“Does Haseul allow that?”

“Kind of.”

“If I text her now, would she say yes?” Yuqi challenged. 

“Ugh, ok fine, she doesn’t. But you like to stay up watching movies right?”

“Not really, I get tired easily.”

“Then try staying up tonight, just for once.”

“What are we even going to watch anyway?”

“Anything we want! And since you’re my babysitter now, you can pick whatever.” Yuqi cringed at being called that, but felt better upon receiving Yeojin’s offer. 

“Alright, but we should go to sleep early so then we’re not completely tired the next morning.”

“Fine~” The younger girl just went along with it, not feeling the need to argue back. 

They both stayed for another hour with their friends, since Yuqi usually goes home then. She didn’t forget to message her mom about what was going to happen tonight, to which she responded with an approval and a reminder for Yuqi to eat some dinner. She, Jiwoo and Yeojin played some games on the younger’s Switch, hoping it would lighten the mood more. This resulted in lots of cussing and near rage-quit as all three of them duked it out on Super Smash Bros., which forced Vivi to warn them about causing a ruckus, so they eventually switched to another game. Yeojin didn’t have many since Haseul only promised to buy her one. Jiwoo eventually clocked out for the day, bidding farewell to all of her friends as she left, reminding Yuqi that it was almost time for her and Yeojin to leave, too. 

Afterwards, they were both waiting patiently outside at a bus stop. The younger girl was busy texting her friends about what occurred tonight, not forgetting to mention Yuqi being her new babysitter as well. Yeojin’s friends went off in the group chat, being excited about this and already making plans for future hangouts, though not forgetting to tell Yuqi about her friends. During that time, the bus finally arrived as they boarded inside, then headed home. Using the house keys Haseul had given her, Yuqi unlocked the entrance as they both stepped inside. Yeojin immediately plopped onto the living room couch, not even bothering to take her shoes off. The older girl sighed before entering their kitchen to what Yeojin and Haseul kept in their fridge. Upon opening it, however, Yuqi was surprised to see a lot inside that she didn’t know what to pick. 

“Hey unnie.” Yeojin called in the living room. 

“Yeah?”

“Can you get me a Yakult bottle?”

“Oh, ok.” The thing is, Yuqi couldn’t find it anywhere so she had to look through every inch and corner. She wasn’t used to seeing an entirely hoarded fridge full of various food items. Yuqi eventually gave up. “Hey uh, I don’t exactly know where it is.”

“It should be on the side, then bottom right.” 

Looking in that direction, the Yakult drinks were easily discovered as Yuqi took one for Yeojin and herself. By the time she entered the living room, an animation show was already playing. Yeojin received the little bottle and said thanks before resuming her attention back on television as Yuqi joined on the couch. She had no idea what was going on in the show, but watched it anyways, occasionally asking the younger girl. In between episodes, Yeojin willingly introduced Yuqi into a new separate group chat along with her friends so then she could get to know them more. It was awkward at first, but the tech geek mentioned her interests, which were shared by some of them as well. 

Then Yeojin proceeded to tell them that Yuqi’s her new babysitter now, which resulted in a tsunami of requests to Yuqi for them to visit fun places like the amusement park, the beach, plaza, etc. It was overwhelming so the older girl smoothly made an excuse for a restroom break as Yeojin continued chatting with friends. After a while, they both continued watching shows, consumed by the television without realizing that it was close to midnight. Yuqi was about to tell Yeojin it was time for bed, only turning around to see her fast asleep. She chuckled before standing on her feet and walking up the stairs to find the younger’s bedroom. It wasn’t that hard to find, especially since Yeojin made it very clear with a sign on her door reading: “Frogjin’s room, Kermit is not allowed inside.” 

Confused, Yuqi arched an eyebrow then quickly shrugged it off, knowing Yeojin was an imaginative kid. Walking back downstairs, she struggled to carry the younger girl to her room, surprised by how heavy she was. Yuqi did her best not to groan loudly so as to not accidentally wake her up. After a few more steps, Yeojin was finally on her bed and the tech geek sighed in relief. 

_What a night._

Just as she was about to make herself comfortable, her phone suddenly buzzed with a message from Haseul. Reading it, Yuqi saw that the captain had just offered her to sleep in her bedroom while she was still away. She immediately smiled at the offer, constantly spamming thanks and gratitude while happily entering Haseul’s bedroom. Afterwards, Yuqi plopped onto her bed and sighed. So much happened in one day that she never expected to occur. The more it was in her mind, the more she still felt horrible about the incident, all while trying to come up with good ways to cheer Chaewon up. 

Groaning, Yuqi buried her face into the pillow momentarily before rolling onto her back. She stared up at the ceiling for what seemed like hours. Sighing, Yuqi decided to go on her phone while she was still awake and scrolled through Twitter to just see what her friends were up to. The tech geek occasionally giggled every time they posted something funny. For example, Yeojin was planning on pranking Heejin with her pet snail by putting it on her phone. Luckily, Yuqi followed the younger’s private account so she and a few others could see it. 

Eventually, it was close to midnight and she was about to sleep, though not without playing some games on her phone. Various puzzle and sudoku apps were downloaded as she easily breezed through the rounds. Yuqi had mastered how to complete the hardest levels long ago, thus, it quickly got boring. Before going to sleep, the tech geek decided to go on Twitter one last time, and never expected this.

Yuqi could only pray that things will go smoothly tomorrow morning with her new task at hand. She still couldn’t believe Haseul would make her babysit Yeojin, feeling nervous about what would happen in the near future. After being stressed out with her thoughts, Yuqi took a deep breath, feeling like she was thinking too much and that this might not actually be a bad thing since she was already accustomed to Yeojin…sort of. Maybe not wholeheartedly, but enough for her to get by and be safe. She made herself a mental note on the things to search up about babysitting and nodded to no one in particular.

Upon receiving a comment from Yeojin on her post, however, Yuqi frowned and texted her to go sleep, to which replied with a “fine.” The tech geek spent a few more hours on Twitter, mindlessly checking the news to see what was up, scrolling through digital arts, and more. It didn’t take long before her timeline was suddenly fired up with her friends tweeting about something being ablazed. Yuqi immediately frowned before scrolling to more, eventually finding out that Heejin and Chaewon were in the kitchen making food…and that Hyunjin’s house was now the one being cooked. Overall, everything was chaotic with the station scolding the two nutheads for being them as Yuqi tried to get more insight on the situation. 

“Wow…poor Hyunjin.” She spoke to herself, before finally noticing the comments on a recent post from Heejin.

Yeojin was just in her room and on her phone late at night, also scrolling through Twitter while the fire thing happened. She kept messaging Heejin and Chaewon to flee and call the fire department, along with others who replied to their frantic tweets. Things seemed to have settled down when Haseul seemingly arrived and took care of everything, thus Yuqi set her phone down, reluctantly calling it a night after setting her glasses on the nightstand. Sleep finally took over after midnight as Yuqi audibly snored while snuggling in Haseul’s fluffy blanket the whole evening. Before it was noticed, morning arrived quickly as though the sky flicked a light switch on.

But instead of immediately getting ready, Yuqi simply lied there and stared up at her ceiling again just like last night, a blank expression as she replayed events from yesterday. Her memories were somewhat hazy, but everything eventually came back upon realizing what today was going to be. Groaning like usual, Yuqi reluctantly crawled out of bed lazily, slumping onto the floor before getting up on her feet to enter the bathroom. She was immediately startled, however, upon seeing Yeojin already inside brushing her teeth. The younger girl offered a spare toothbrush for her to use, which she accepted. They both prepared for that morning as Yeojin looked into Haseul’s closet for her old clothes, so then Yuqi can change into those. After a few minutes of rummaging, Yeojin finally found a stylish outfit for the tech geek, feeling it would fit her well. 

That being said, she quickly got changed into a simple black and red striped sweater, tucking the bottom into her jeans, securing a belt around it before putting on black leathered, ankle shoes. Lastly, came the glasses, which were luckily not forgotten this time. As they both headed downstairs, Yeojin handed her Haseul’s car keys with a smile. Yuqi arched an eyebrow, but took it anyway before grabbing her backpack and briefcase, only to be stopped by the younger girl. 

“What are you doing?”

“Getting my stuff?”

“Oh, you’re off of work today so we have the whole 24 hours together!” Yeojin informed her with a bright smile. Yuqi couldn’t tell if it was innocent or not. 

“W-wait, really??”

“Mhm! Can we go to the mall today? I wanna go to GameStop to see if there’s anything new.”

“Ok. Is that all?”

“Also the arcade like we mentioned last night.”

“Oh…sure.” That was when Yuqi realized her friends were coming along, too. But they seemed alright while she was in the group chat with them.

“Yay! And we can visit other stores as well.”

“Alright.” The older sighed before muttering under her breath. “Might as well get this over with.” 

“By the way, it’s the one down in the plaza. Have you ever been there?”

“No, not really. What’s it like?”

“It’s amazing! Oh my gosh, they have a shit ton of games, so we might be there for a while. And I was thinking of doing some karaoke, you can join us!”

“Hm, I’ll think about it.”

Taking a deep breath, she mentally prepared herself for today as they entered the garage for Haseul’s van. Yuqi easily ignited the vehicle and backed out before exiting their driveway. Yeojin stared in awe, not knowing that the older could drive, but she wasn’t too surprised since Yuqi was already an adult. She couldn’t help feeling amazed since she never saw her drive before. 

As they drove through Seoul, the tech geek would slightly look over to see what she was doing, only to see Yeojin on her phone every time. But what Yuqi didn’t really see was the little gremlin was planning with her friends on getting her to pay for the new Animal Crossing and other Switch games, each worth sixty dollars. Despite Jiheon telling this wasn’t a good idea and that Yuqi was going to be angry, Yeojin reassured them all how the tech geek was easy-going and they’ll be fine. 

They then started planning on how to get Yuqi her money back in case she does find out. Their scheme was finalized with Jiheon reluctantly agreeing, while the rest of them expressed their excitement. When Yeojin set her phone down in the middle of their ride to Lena’s house, which slightly surprised Yuqi but she shrugged it off. When the van’s GPS informed them that they’d just arrived at their destination, the older girl parked in front of the astonishingly large house. She arched an eyebrow at it, feeling much more timid and nervous than a few minutes. They waited patiently for Lena to appear while on their phones, during which Yuqi received a text message from Sooyoung.

It basically started off with the older woman advising Yuqi on some things she should know while taking care of Yeojin. This had honestly made her realize that the little gremlin was actually a child at heart and made Yuqi chuckle a little. Sooyoung noted that chocolate should basically stay far away from the kid, which worried her a little as she wondered what would happen if Yeojin does somehow obtain chocolate. Obviously, Yuqi didn’t really want to know, though she couldn’t help but feel curious.

Yuqi averted her attention upward when she heard Yeojin squealing when she saw a tall girl exiting the building while eagerly waving at them. The passenger door opened and they ran to hug each other, nearly causing Lena to fall backwards. Holding hands, they both raced to the van as Yeojin sat in shotgun again while the other seated in the back. 

“Hi! Lena, right?”

“Yep! Nice to finally see you in person. Must be cool being the new babysitter.”

“Yeah…I guess.” It was bizarre for her to be called that. And it was certainly not cool.

“She’s gonna pick up the others before we go to the mall, then the arcade.”

“Cool! Hope it won't be too cramped in here, there’ll be a lot of us.”

“That’s good.” Yuqi responded slowly with hinted sarcasm before starting up the car again. 

One by one, more kids boarded and soon it was an entire karaoke. All of her friends consisted of Lena, Yuna, Doah, Jiheon, and Chaerin, who’d actually joined last minute. Yeojin and Yuna switched seats so now the younger girl was sitting shotgun while everyone jammed to some songs loudly. The tech geek was fearfully wondering if people could hear them from outside, especially with the constant, boisterous yelling of lyrics and mimicking music. Yeojin had suddenly turned on what Yuqi believed was some viral song, since she’d heard for about the fifth time this week, then everyone immediately joined in, wrecking havoc to her ears. It didn’t help that Yuna was also rocking out to the music right beside, screaming along with the rest of them. 

Jiheon, who sat in the far back with Doah, tried her best to calm everyone down so they wouldn’t be too loud. Though that proved futile as Yuqi saw some pedestrians look at their van in confusion and amusement. She honestly couldn’t be more embarrassed as the drive to their destination continued. Luckily, there wasn’t much traffic today so they were able to reach the mall within minutes, finally ending their loud carpool. Yuqi parked the van as quickly, but safely as possible, being the first to exit while waiting for everyone else. She sighed in relief when the horrendous car ride stopped as they all piled out, closing the doors behind them. 

“Ok, so before we go in, you all need to stay together with me. Is that clear?” They all nodded to her, though most likely doing the exact opposite once they got inside. “Good. And are there any stores in particular you want to visit?”

“I planned on going to GameStop.” Yeojin answered. 

“Then what about you guys?”

“We’ll go with her.”

“Hm, sounds good.” Yuqi nodded understandingly as they all entered. 

Since it was currently the weekend, they expected crowds of people shopping everywhere. Since Yeojin had been here before, she easily located GameStop, followed by the rest of the kids while Yuqi trailed closely behind them. Oddly enough, the shop was as filled as initially thought, thus, it was nice to look around. The kids roamed about inside, looking through games, souvenirs, shirts, etc. Yuna and Jiheon were busy playing demo versions on the Switch offered in the store, while Yeojin and Doah were in the corner discussing how to act out their little evil plan.

Yuqi remained utterly oblivious, of course, and looked through the various Pop Figures displayed on shelves, smiling when she spotted a cute one like Winnie the Pooh or Pokemon. Getting out her wallet, Yuqi checked to see if she had enough money to buy one or two, luckily enough, she did. Satisfied, the tech geek grabbed the ones that caught her attention, occasionally contemplating whether or not they were worth it, however. Beside her were Lena and Chaerin, who seemed to be arguing about something. Yuqi felt the tensions rising so she didn’t want to stick around and feel awkward in case something was said, but what she heard made her stick to the ground. 

“You know she likes this one better, right?” Lena reminded Chaerin, who rolled her eyes in return. 

“What do you know about Yeojin? Haven’t you seen her get excited over Animal Crossing?”

“She’s been talking about Pokemon Sword and Shield for the longest time, you obviously know nothing about her.”

“We’ve been friends since middle school.”

“Good for you, I’ve known her since elementary!”

“That’s great, but we’re closer.”

“Oh really? How about try striking up a conversation with her without stuttering?”

“Yeah like you’re any better.”

“If you think _I’m_ the one that’s nervous, then think again.”

“Ok fine, go talk to her right now.”

“I’m planning something special, what are you gonna do? Dress up as a frog mascot because she likes frogs?” Lena practically mocked Chaerin’s idea, despite not knowing what it is, which irritated her as she narrowed her eyes.

“Uh, first of all, that’s none of your business. Second, she’s gonna go for me.”

“Delusional much?”

“Says you!”

“I’ll be the one laughing, just you watch.”

“How funny, I didn’t—”

Chaerin was interrupted mid-sentence when there was suddenly some commotion behind her. Both girls turned towards the sound, only to see Yuqi’s shoe laces were entangled. She was just trying to casually walk away as if she didn’t just hear anything in their conversation just now. Never did Yuqi expect for things to escalate from zero to a thousand so quickly, so she decided to try and escape before she heard too much. And, needless to say, luck wasn’t really on her side when she stepped on her own shoe laces and tripped a little. Upon realizing they finally noticed her, Yuqi froze and stopped trying to free herself, awkwardly laughing. 

“Ahahaha……I-I, um—I was just trying to t-tie my shoe….”

“…cool.” Lena slowly nodded along before walking elsewhere, leaving just them.

“Yeah, uh sorry.” Chaerin chuckled at the older girl still struggling.

“Do you need some help?”

“Yes, please.” With that being said, they both untied Yuqi’s entangled shoe laces as Chaerin helped the older girl up to her feet. She expressed gratitude and introduced herself, even though she’d already done that in the van. “I’m Yuqi! Though you probably already know that.”

“Haha, I’m Chaerin. I heard from Yeojin that you work with the police force, right?”

“Yep! I’m the technician there and my job is mostly making equipment, providing cameras, fixing stuff and enhancing weapons.”

“Whoa, that’s so cool! So you’re basically an engineer then?” 

“Yeah, but it’s more basic stuff. I could make a highly advanced machine gun that has more ammunition capacity and with a range way better than a regular one.” Yuqi boasted while grinning happily. 

“Wow…I guess you don’t go on missions too much, huh?” The tech geek nodded, slightly pouting. 

“I get too scared so I let my friends handle them.”

“Wouldn’t you need to defend yourself one day? Incase your friends aren’t there for you.”

“Yep! Which is why my captain is suggesting me therapy and more combat training, but I’m starting to get the jist of it.”

“Is the police academy difficult?”

“Hm, not really.” Yuqi looked up, thinking deeply as she remembered her time there. “The classes are mostly about basic police and detective stuff like investigating crime scenes, looking for specific evidence, etc. Honestly, I mostly had a difficult time in combat training.” She visibly shuddered at the memories of her being ragdolled in wrestling, constantly flying out of the boxing rink, and many more. 

Chaerin giggled seeing Yuqi describing her experience in the academy. “So they’ll be fine with me already taking athletic courses in high school?”

“Oh, they’ll be more than fine! The more exercise you have prior, the more you’ll be in good shape.”

“Nice! I was thinking of applying for the police academy since I don’t know what else to do after I graduate.”

“Are you a junior this year like Yeojin?”

“Yeah, one more year and it’s off to college.”

“Aahh, you kids grow up so fast.” They both chuckled before continuing on with the conversation. “By the way.”

“Hm?

“How did you and Yeojin meet?”

“Oh, it was around 7th grade when I moved from Jeju-do to Seoul. My parents got a new job.” Yuqi nodded along and patiently waited for more information. “We moved during the summer and I was really nervous on the first day of school since I didn’t know anyone. I introduced myself in front of class and sat next to Yeojin. She invited me into her friend group and life just went on from there.”

“Aw, that’s sweet. I see you guys are really close now.”

“Yeah….” Chaerin turned to where Yeojin was standing in the corner, still talking to Doah as Jiheon and Yuna joined them. 

“Do you guys plan on doing anything else today? Or just shopping?”

“Not sure, since you’re mostly looking after Yeojin, you can ask her.”

“Ah, yeah that’s the thing…she’s known as the gremlin in my station, her older sister is our captain. Yeojin isn't really supposed to be there but she helps out with hacking and stuff, so I guess that’s good.” 

“Why is she called the gremlin?”

“Well, you know, she pulls pranks a lot and messes around with us numerous times. She put a snail on my computer once.” Yuqi cutely pouted while Chaerin burst into laughter. 

“Yep, that’s her. I mean, she’s just a kid. I’m sure even with the amount of discipline she receives, Yeojin will always be the same. I like that in her.” This made Yuqi chuckle.

“I’m glad she has good friends like you.”

“Thanks, and I’m glad she has someone like you to take care of her.”

They both ended their conversation with a mutual understanding as Yuqi thought this day wouldn’t be so bad after all. Meanwhile, on the other side of the store, the four kids were constantly discussing back and forth about their plan whenever they felt like it wouldn’t be executed the way they expected. Yeojin constantly told them that everything would be fine as she already had it under control, despite Jiheon and Doah being unsure while Yuna merely nodded along, all ready for the plan. If they somehow got into trouble, she’d just brush it off as if she never had any involvement in this, though will most likely get some flak from her friends for it. They reviewed once more before really finalizing everything. Now it was in motion. 

“Hey Yuqi unnie.” Yeojin wrapped her arms around the older’s, confusing her. “Can you buy the Animal Crossing for me? It’s currently on sale for 50% off.”

“Oh really?? So how much is that?”

“Just 30$.”

“Oh…uh, do you half that at least? And you’re only paying for one game right?”

"Just two more, Pokemon Sword and Mario Odyssey.”

"You have money for those as well, right?'

"Yep!" Yeojin responded with what seemed like utmost sincerity. Behind them, Jiheon, Doah and Yuna exchanged looks, still feeling a little unsure about this but it seemed like Yuqi was agreeing with everything Yeojin was saying, thus, they didn’t worry as much anymore.

“Alright, let’s get to it then.”

She called all of the kids to counter to pay for their stuff so they could leave the store afterwards. Yuqi was up at the counter giving three of her selected Pop Figures for the cashier to scan them, including Yeojin’s games and some figurines that the other girls are apparently paying for themselves. They all eyed her credit card as she took it out of her wallet, holding it to the side. Yeojin carefully observed the timing while her friends were feeling anxious. Her attention mainly averted to the car keys in Yuqi’s pocket, slightly hanging out since the pocket was big. Right before Yuqi inserted her card into the scanner, Yeojin swiftly reached inside as fast as she could, taking it out and dropping them onto the ground. 

Yuqi yelped at the sudden sound before looking down, only to be surprised her keys had somehow “fell” out of her pockets. When the older girl kneeled down to try and pick them back up, Doah hastily inserted Yuqi’s card all the way in, allowing it to quickly pay for everything before the older girl stood up again. Yuqi was having a difficult time picking up the keys, however, which frustrated her as it constantly slipped out of her hands for some odd reason. Little did she know, Yeojin had speedily coated the keys with oil so Yuqi wouldn’t be able to stand up on time to see the kids draining her credit card and ripping up the receipt that had their actual price on there. 

To summarize, the price that Yuqi _thought_ she was paying was around forty dollars, but in reality, she’d just paid over three hundred, including additional taxes, without even knowing at all. Yeojin reached down to help her pick up the keys, somehow doing it with ease, surprising Yuqi. Doah handed the tech geek her credit card, while smiling ever so innocently, as they all led her out of the store without even glancing back. Yuqi asked where the receipt was, to which Yeojin lied saying it was already in the bag. Truthfully, Yuna had only slipped an old one from a few weeks ago with similar purchases, just hoping the older girl wouldn’t notice the date and items immediately if she checked the price. As they set foot out of GameStop, they began wandering around in the mall, going through stores after stores but not really buying anything.

The kids looked through reviewed products from stores, tried out numerous clothing but not actually purchasing them. Yuqi did her best to supervise them, but they would always try to get her to join them on their spree of rowdiness. She constantly had to apologize for every little thing that they nearly accidentally broke. Lastly, they visited the food court and were now eating cinnamon buns that Yeojin so desperately wanted and practically begged Yuqi to buy for her. However, it wasn’t just her, but also the kids who wanted some as well. She could roll her eyes when paying for ten instead seven because the maknae line wanted extra. 

“Thanks for taking us shopping, Yuqi-unnie!” Doah flashed finger hearts at her, causing everyone to chuckle. 

“Yeah, you’re really cool!” Lena complimented, which warmed her heart.

“You’re welcome.” She stated while shyly blushing. “Just glad we all had fun today.”

“You’re the best, unnie!” Yuna flashed a happy grin and two thumbs up at Yuqi, causing her to chuckle. 

“Oh stop, all of you were well behaved today, so we should celebrate that, too.” All of them collectively gasped at the same time. 

“Let’s go to the arcade now! I heard the place is selling ice creams and I _have_ to get the new chocolate caramel flavor.” 

“And you know for sure that it has milk in it, right?” Lena teased, earning a smack on her shoulder as Yuna whined.

“Can we drop that conversation already?”

“Haha sorry, Yuna, it’s too funny.” Doah joined in. “Remember chocolate doesn’t have to have milk in it to be chocolate.”

 _“I know!”_ The teasing continued on for a while and she pouted even more.

Yuqi tapped on the table to stop them before things got out of hand. “Alright, alright let’s stop if you all still want the arcade.” That silenced everything immediately.

“Oh wait, unnie?”

“Yes, Yuna?”

“Can you drop me off at the law firm building in Seoul? Like the gigantic one?”

“Why?”

“Cause I have to meet Lia Choi there.” Yuqi widened her eyes upon hearing that name. 

“You’re meeting Lia Choi?? The most powerful and successful lawyer?!”

“Yeah! I’m her intern, actually. And I almost forgot to tell you guys, but I have to go to this meeting she's having with detectives Hyunjin and Heejin tonight." 

“Awww, that means you can’t go to the arcade with us?” Jiheon pouted. 

“I know, I’m sorry. I thought I’d still have time for the arcade, but guess not. So is that alright with you, unnie?”

“Yeah sure, of course. You need to get there right now, I’m assuming?”

“Yep, Lia unnie doesn’t take tardiness lightly. She’s way more stricter than Mr.Kang, our demonic math teacher.”

“Ugh…I hate that guy, he makes me despise trigonometry.” Chaerin begrudgingly scowled and folded her arms as Yuqi chuckled. 

“Alright, let’s get there quickly before you’re late then.”

As they all piled in the van, their mood was lifted once again as karaoke was in session once more. And much more passionate than a few hours, unfortunately. Yuqi had to tell them numerous times to keep it down so then she could hear the GPS, but she ended up using AirPods that Jiheon offered for her. The tech geek was somewhat thankful that she couldn’t hear their obnoxiously loud singing, but that didn’t stop people from staring at the van in confusion, but also judgement whenever Yuqi stopped at a red light. Sighing, she was basically in despair, though still wearing a “calm” expression, so as to not look like she was dying on the inside. Yuna was finally dropped off at the law firm building, waving goodbye to Yuqi and all of her friends before hastily entering. Afterwards, they arrived in no time and the remaining kids cheered upon seeing the arcade before them. 

Yuqi, however, didn’t expect the building to be so enormous and stared at it in shock. As they all exited the van, the older girl made sure they were still by her side while crossing the street, before allowing them to race inside. Yuqi quickly followed behind so they wouldn’t be out of her sight, only to be shocked by the time she entered. Yeojin wasn’t kidding when she said there were a shit ton of games in the arcade. Yuqi stared in awe, mouth agape as numerous, colorful lights illuminated the somewhat dark area. The arcade was best at night time, even though it was still early afternoon outside. She suddenly felt a tug on her wrist and she was dragged further in. 

“There you are, unnie! Thought we lost you.” 

Jiheon led to where the rest of the kids were. It seemed like they’d just paid for their own tokens when Yuqi and Jiheon joined them in the line. In actuality, Lena had somehow snuck the tech geek’s credit card out of her wallet while they were in the car karaoking loudly. She’d quickly placed the tiny purse back into Yuqi’s backpack and zipped it up without her knowing. Lena had since kept the credit card safe and sound in her pocket til they arrived at the arcade. 

Each had tons of tokens for themselves before dispersing around the arcade as Yuqi informed them to message her if they needed anything, to which they nodded obediently. Yeojin and Doah quickly busied themselves in a game called “Let’s Go Jungle!” Curious and fascinated, Yuqi decided to see what it was about. But not even 5 minutes into the game and they were already battling a colossal tarantula, scaring her as she yelped loudly. Doah, who had been sitting closest to her, was startled by the tech geek.

“Are you alright, unnie?” Doah expressed utmost concern, though still keeping her attention on the screen.

“U-uh—yeah, just…highly, highly arachnophobic.”

“Oh, you don’t have to worry, they’re not real.”

“I-I know, but—”

“Unnie! Wanna play with us? The game is really fun!” Yeojin called out to her before getting off her seat temporarily. 

“Here, you can take my spot!” 

The younger girl immediately offered as she dragged the already terrified Yuqi into her seat. Needless to say, the game had Yuqi screaming in fear as she constantly flinched at the little spiders crawling towards and jumping onto the screen. Doah was having the time of her life and continued shooting as Yeojin cheered them on. Their yellings were masked by various music from other games and speakers playing over the entire arcade, thus they were unaware of Yuqi’s terrified cry whenever insects jumped at them. Afterwards, all of them eventually moved onto other games like House of the Dead, Dark Escape, Aliens, and more horror games along the way. Yuqi finally escaped when she made the excuse to use the restroom, sighing in relief when the kids stopped making her play with them.

(Yuna is there in spirit lol) 

Walking elsewhere again, she tried to find where Chaerin, Lena and Jiheon were. She crossed to the other side before seeing them in the corner, seemingly in a heated match while playing Street Fighters. Yuqi arched an eyebrow while getting closer, seeing both of them tapping furiously on the buttons in hopes to win their match. Jiheon stood by watching with concern written all over her face. It seemed to Yuqi that she was also aware of their apparent feelings towards Yeojin and were battling to the K.O. Lena was on edge while Chaerin remained eerily calm, though still harshly smashing buttons and nearly ripping the joystick. It was amusing for Yuqi to see them so fierce and passionate to win against the other. They were obvious, but the tech geek assumed that if either of them wins, they will surely brag to Yeojin about this. 

As their match went on, it was finally over and miraculously resulted with a draw between them. Both Lena and Chaerin sat frozen in their seats, utterly disbelieving what they were seeing on the game’s monitor: a big fat TIE. Jiheon gasped upon witnessing their avatars striking and knocking each other out simultaneously. Yuqi, on the other hand, laughed at this while they narrowed eyes at her. Sighing, Lena demanded for a rematch, to which Chaerin immediately agreed before inserting more coins. 

“They just never give up….” Jiheon commented, catching Yuqi’s attention.

“I wonder when enough is enough for them.”

“Haha me, too.”

“Are you perhaps aware about, you know….” The older girl spoke in a hushed voice, but it was loud enough for Jiheon to hear. She smiled and nodded as Lena and Chaerin were quite obvious.

“Honestly, who knew. Yeojin unnie is very nice, so I guess that’s why they just fell for her charm.”

“Really? She’s quite a rascal whenever my friends and I are working at the station. Pranks and stuff.”

“Oooh I see. She pranks us a lot, too. She once put a snail on Yuna’s backpack.” Jiheon grimaced when remembering the time when they all screamed in fear after seeing it while Yeojin laughed at them. 

“What is with her and snails???”

“Yeojin unnie has two as pets. I still don’t know how she obtained them to this day.”

“Honestly scary if I think about it….”

“Yeah, same.” Jiheon chuckled before turning to Yuqi. “What games are you going to play, unnie?”

“Hm, I’m not quite sure. I rarely go to the arcade these days.”

“Really? Even though you’re a technician like Yeojin unnie said?”

“Well, I’ve been busy fixing stuff in the station lately, so.”

“Oh, I see. I can show you some fun games to play, if you want.”

“Uh…they’re not horror games, are they? A-and there’s no bugs? Or aliens? Or zombies?” Yuqi desperately questioned as Jiheon quickly shook her head, though slightly concerned.

“There isn’t any of that stuff, promise. I would always play this game whenever we hang out here.”

Yuqi followed behind closely as they neared a game called Time Crisis. It had two large monitors and a gun for two players, making it a co-op game. Jiheon picked the blue side as Yuqi stepped on the red side before the younger entered her tokens in. The game’s prologue starts with a villian, like usual, and players must stop their evil plan before it happens. Yuqi and Jiheon breezed through the tutorial before getting straight into the levels. Overtime, both of them were having fun and laughing, but also exclaiming whenever they lost all of their lives and inserted more tokens to regain them back. It felt like time went by really quick as they finally reached the final round, facing the villain himself. 

By then, Yeojin, Chaerin, Lena, and Doah were cheering right by them and watched as they skillfully aimed at enemy robots. They reached victory after successfully defeating the villain and stopping him from taking over the world. Yuqi sighed in relief and put down the fake gun, giving Jiheon a high five for the successful game play. 

“Phew! That was awesome!” 

“You did great, unnie!” Jiheon flashed a gummy smile with two thumbs up.

“You as well, Jiheon!” 

“Hey, Yuqi unnie.” Yeojin called out, gaining her attention. “Wanna go take photos at the booth?”

“And then do karaoke??” Doah clasped her hands together excitedly and looked at the older as if begging her to say yes.

“Alright, alright. Let’s go then.” 

With that being said, they all moved onto taking pictures as planned, cramming into one as best as possible to be in the photos together. It took about four rounds of posing and smiling for the camera before their process was finally done. Each of them had their own set before finally making their way towards the karaoke room. Yuqi didn't realize how long it's been since being in the car with them, but she somehow forgot how loud their singing was until Yeojin picked out "Barbie Girl" for jokes and laughter as they all, minus Yuqi and Jiheon, jammed out to it like no tomorrow. She swore she was deaf by the time they finished before selecting another song. This time, Jiheon joined Doah for a ballad song, which they successfully passed. Afterwards, the kids sang songs after songs as Yuqi sat by and watched, occasionally laughing whenever they jokingly cracked their voices or impersonated some famous movie star to sing. Chaerin finally noticed Yuqi merely watching them, so she decided to retry and get the older girl to join them.

"Unnie, come sing with us!" Everyone collectively gasped and all stared at her while she sat there flustered. 

"Can you sing, unnie??" Jiheon’s eyes were full of curiosity. 

"U-uh—I—""

"Here, use my mic!" Yeojin quickly interrupted her, shoving it in Yuqi's hand before dragging her up to the front. "What song do you want to sing?" 

"Uh…." The tech geek squinted her eyes as she looked through the large binder. "I guess this one." 

"Ooooh 'Scared to be Lonely' by Dua Lipa and Martin Garrix! That's a really good song." Doah glanced over to see what she picked, along with Lena. 

"You can enter its code with the remote here." She entered it in for Yuqi as the song slowly began. Clearing her throat, she patiently stood there while holding her mic close. Everyone watched intensely as the lines began.

When Yuqi finished singing the song and turned around, all of them were staring at her in utter shock, disbelief and overall admiration. She stood there awkwardly as silence ensued for a few more seconds before heavy applause sounded. They all cheered for her and embraced in a group hug, all while giving out heartfelt compliments. Never were they expecting for this to be the best day ever. And it was only about to get better, as Yuqi had been told by Yeojin after she suggested they go to the amusement park. Getting back into the van again, the girls practically begged the tech geek to sing along with them in their boisterous karaoke carpool as Yuna turned on the radio while sitting in shotgun.

Yuqi eventually gave in so they could stop nagging her, while they heard her heavenly vocals once more. However, it was actually kind of fun for her since they enjoyed singing just as much as she did, even if they didn’t hit the notes correctly. She’d always burst into laughter whenever their voices cracked, as they too brushed it aside and continued destroying each other’s eardrums. It’d reached night time, about 7PM, when they were on the road towards their last destination. The kids also wanted to go there because their new favorite idol was supposedly going to appear that night for a performance. Though despite searching it up online, they only saw news articles reporting rumors, thus it was rather unclear whether or not this was guaranteed true. Though Yuqi figured that even if this idol wasn’t going to perform, she and the kids would still have lots of fun anyways. 

They all cheered excitedly when the amusement park was in sight, eagerly exiting the van when Yuqi finished parking. Making their way towards the gate, many people were playing the carnival games, going on the roller coasters, buying food, etc. As they walked further inside, Lena immediately noticed a large stage just far across from the gate, where they stood in awe. 

“Look over there! Han Chowon might be performing after all!”

“Oh sweet! Let’s buy some time till she starts.” Yeojin suggested before eyeing the area, searching for the cotton candy booth. 

“Are you guys sure it’s going to happen?” Yuqi questioned, a little worried that they’d be bummed if it wasn’t. Yuna was quick to reassure. 

“Yeah, don’t worry, unnie! I see lights on the stage, so I’m quite sure.” 

“Ok. Once I buy the tickets, we should stick together, I feel like this place is really big.” 

She stated before taking out her wallet to find her credit card. The same one that the kids had used to buy their games, _and_ for tons of arcade tokens. Lena still had it in her pocket. All of them stared wide eyes at each other as Yeojin silently, but frantically motioned for Lena to take out the card, which she quickly did before dropping it on the ground behind Yuqi. She made the situation seem like it’d somehow dropped from her wallet.

“Hm? That’s weird, I thought I had it in here….” Feeling a twinge of guilt, Lena quickly helped her out. 

“Hey unnie, it’s on the ground behind you.” Yuqi audibly gasped before reaching down to grab it.

“Oh my god! I would’ve been dead if it was stolen!” The kids briefly exchanged eye contacts with each other, as if they totally hadn’t been secretly using it for themselves. But on that note, Yeojin played it off by quickly wrapping her arm around Yuqi’s shoulders and led her inside. 

"Hey unnie, we have another friend who we invited to come hang out with us tonight a few days ago. She's the new kid in our school!"

"Yeah! She's pretty shy and well-mannered when you get to know her." Jiheon added on.

"That's cool, who is she?" Yuqi questioned as Doah replied. 

"Her name is Bada, we introduced ourselves on her first day." 

"When do you think she'll get here?" 

"She should be here soon actually." Yeojin checked the time on her phone, until a familiar voice caught all of their attention. Bada was cutely jogging up to them. 

“Hey! Sorry I’m late….” She mumbled as Yuqi offered her an encouraging smile.

“It’s all good! Better late than never!” Lena gave her a thumbs up.

Yeojin leaned over to Yuqi to explain, causing her to chuckle. “She just transferred to our school so we abducted her into our friend group.”

"Well, I guess we're all here then."

“Let’s go on some rides, unnie! And then we can eat?” Yuna asked, receiving a nod in return.

“Yeah, I’ll purchase the tickets first.”

“Yay!” They all collectively fist pumped into the air and cheered. 

Afterwards, they immediately rushed towards the roller coaster while Yuqi hesitantly trailed behind them while looking at it fearfully. And, as one would’ve expected, she regretted going on the ride instantly when it took in light speed. She was screaming for her life the entire time while desperately holding onto Chaerin. Yuqi felt like her soul left the face of Earth when the roller coaster stopped, feeling empty and void of emotion as they all got off. The kids wanted to go on all of the rides, which Yuqi decided to sit so she could recollect herself while eating funnel cake. After a while, Yuqi was dragged in another ride with them. There were a bunch of race cars, each for two people, sitting on the tracks. They all piled and seated in each vehicle with Yeojin and Yuqi together, Chaerin with Lena, then lastly, Doah and Jiheon together. Bada, who decided to sit on the bleachers and watch, cheered on for them, to which they all waved back at her.

Yuqi obviously had to be the one driving since she has a license while Yeojin sat aside to watch her go. The referee blew his whistle, signaling for them to hit their pedals as they raced off. Yuqi yelped when their race car suddenly sped away within seconds, but it was at a safe speed so they weren't going too fast. The kids bumped into each other here and there, laughing along the way towards the finish line. Three rounds passed by in a flash as Lena and Chaerin were leading, with Yeojin and Yuqi right behind. Lena, who was driving despite Chaerin wanting to do so, stepped on it when she saw the finish line just ahead. Before anyone could catch up on time, they successfully crossed it and victory was theirs as all of the race cars on the track manually stopped.

They quickly hopped off and high fived each other, only to immediately freeze, staring with wide eyes at what they'd just done. Lena and Chaerin instantly turned their backs to each other while Doah and Jiheon didn't let them live down to it one bit. On the other hand, Yuqi sighed as she leaned against the race car, her foot extended to rest on the pedal that Yeojin couldn’t reach.

“What’s got you so down, Yuqi?” Yeojin asked, swerving off the digital track for the fifth time. 

“I was supposed to go to a family reunion today, but I guess this is more fun. I’m gonna miss the food though.” Yuqi placed a hand on her stomach.

“Oooh. Sorry about you missing your reunion...” 

“It’s okay. There’s always next time. Besides, it's more fun hanging out with you and your friends.” She couldn’t be more wrong. They were all having an absolute blast with every single ride, before leaving only one thing left. 

"Hey! You there!" Some man dressed in a large black cloak while holding a fake magical staff pointed to Yuqi.

"Uh—m-me?" 

"Yes you! How would you and your lovely friends like to visit our most famous and largest attraction, the House of Horror?" His passionate tone inquired them as they got closer to him pointing at the giant sign above them.

"Oh…" Yuqi hesitated to even look inside or at the scary decor. "That's great, but I don't—" 

"I'm _definitely_ trying this out!" Goddammit, Yeojin. 

The other voiced their agreements as well before turning to the older girl. "Yuqi unnie, wanna come with us?" Chaerin curiously asked her, but she didn't know how to respond without sounding like a wimp. If she didn't already look like one, first off.

They were having so much fun and Yuqi didn't want to ruin it by being a wuss. "Sure! Let's…go." 

Her strained voice went unnoticed as the kids cheered together. After giving the tickets away, Yuqi made sure they were all grouped together as she tightly held hands with Jiheon and Chaerin while they walked behind Lena, Yeojin and Doah. Slowly entering the dark interior, everyone carefully walked further inside. The only light they could all see was below by their feet so as to lead them towards specific areas. Needless to say, the scaring started immediately upon entering and they couldn't help themselves but scream in utter horror. It'd only been in the haunted house for five minutes but to Yuqi, it felt like a million years. She was designated as the first person in line to walk through the house, even though she was probably the most scared. She was scared once in the face then fell back, causing a domino effect with the kids following behind her.

Afterwards, they all took off running. Yuqi shut her eyes tightly as she yelled non-stop and was desperately hugging god knows who. She could hear Doah, Bada and Jiheon screaming loudly next to her so Yuqi assumed they were following right behind as she ran, trying to escape this hellish place. None of them stopped hollering in fear every time there were jumpscares in their faces and have lost count on how much they'd tripped and fallen while dashing away. Before Yuqi knew it, she and the kids had finally made it out. She swore on that moment she would never take the world for granted ever again. Yuqi had checked to make sure everyone was alright and weren't too hurt when they were busy screaming for their lives. She eventually found out that the person she'd been hugging this whole time was Chaerin, to which she immediately apologized for. The younger didn't mind and easily forgave Yuqi while brushing the dirt off her knees. Afterwards, Yuqi did a head count to see if all the kids were here. To her horror, one of them was missing.

Panicking, Yuqi quickly tried to rush back inside, only to be stopped at the fence by a staff who told her she wasn't allowed in. Despite this, the tech geek still pestered that there was a kid lost inside, to which he only argued that she'll eventually find her way out as the building wasn't that big anyways. Sighing, Yuqi pulled out her police badge, shoving it in the worker’s face.

“Show me all the passages in this demon house immediately! Contact your coworkers and tell them if they see a little girl who looks like a middle schooler and resembles a lentil bean to contact you who will be with me _immediately_.” Yuqi ordered, her whole tone and demeanor changing. Yeojin’s friends gasped and looked on in awe. 

"B-but ma'am, we—" 

"I won't _ask again!"_

Yuqi eventually got fed up and pushed him aside, now furious as she clutched her police badge to show it to them. She began dashing towards the haunted house's exit door, but another staff tried to stop her by standing in front. 

_MOVE THE_ **_FUCK_ ** _OUT OF MY WAY!!!!!_

And without any hesitations, Yuqi proceeded to harshly kick him on his side, sending him quite literally flying out over the fence, shocking the kids as they rushed right behind her. Though they also did their best to not laugh at the poor guy.

Once back inside, they all screamed for Yeojin's name in hopes she would be able to hear them. They walked further into the house, until a dim light illuminated behind them with an opened door leading to a lighted room. There stood Yeojin by the staff room, which she somehow found while they were running for their lives. Immediately upon seeing her, both Chaerin and Lena ran up to hug her immediately, the worry on their faces melting off to reveal slight bewilderment as they embraced her tightly in a bear hug, followed by Jiheon and Doah, then Bada, who hesitantly joined. 

“Jo Yeojin you almost got me murdered by Haseul unnie!!” Yuqi accused before making her way over and hugging Yeojin herself, sighing in relief. 

“Never again.” Yuqi mumbled to herself.

“What was that?” Yeojin asked, her voice muffled by the hug.

“Nothing.”

"Yeojinnie! We were so worried about you!" Lena lightly smacked her shoulder. 

"Sorry guys, I thought it was the exit, so I went inside here. But I was too scared to come back out." 

"Aww, don't worry, I'm here now." Chaerin reassured with a smile, earning a hug from Yeojin. The others didn't miss the way Lena's eyes narrowed at them.

"Hm. Now that we're finally all together, we should go wait for the concert now." 

She looked away before heading out as said, everyone else following close behind. Once outside again, there was a crowd forming around the stage. Han Chowon was finally performing as Yuqi recognized the melodic voice coming from the center of the crowd. The kids seemed to realize too as they screamed in joy and rushed to join the audience. Bada, Jiheon and Doah held hands together as they ran forward, with Lena and Chaerin right behind them. Yuqi tried to keep up, but it didn't take long since they all stood behind the crowd, watching Chowon singing from a distance.

In the rush, however, Yuqi didn't see that Yeojin had tripped and fell. The tech geek was able to locate the other kids within the crowd so she messaged the group chat to make sure they stayed where they were, to which Lena quickly replied with a thumbs up emoji. Yuqi's heart dropped when she couldn't see Yeojin once more.

_Not again…_

Luckily, she turned around just on time to see Yeojin on the ground. She was about to help her up but a stranger had suddenly beat her to it. A blonde woman had helped the tiny girl up, frowning at Yeojin’s recklessness. Yuqi arched an eyebrow, tilting her head slightly to the side and curiously questioned who that was. She then walked closer, just in time to hear the woman scold Yeojin about being more careful while brushing off the dirt from her knees, who pouted and looked at the ground, making her soften her tone. Yuqi chuckled at that as Yeojin bowed to the blonde woman before skipping back to join her and their friends. From where she was standing, a little back from the edge of the crowd, Yuqi could vaguely hear the woman and her companion speak. 

“Soft as ever, Jungie. So that’s the little gang of kids you have huh?”

“Wh—I don’t even know them!”

“Don’t worry, I won’t make fun of you.” Her companion finished, chuckling. 

“Eunseo unnie! I seriously don’t know these gremlins!” The girl, Jungie whined, which made Eunseo laugh harder.

"Oh come on, you always tell me stories about working in a gang."

"I wasn't talking about a bunch of high school kids…." 

"Sure you were! You wouldn't have helped her up if she wasn't." 

"I help out every kid, doesn't necessarily mean I know them." 

"Aw come on, Jungeun. You can't fool your old sister." 

"Sure I can. You're old anyways." The blonde teasingly mocked her, only to earn a good smack on the back of her head.

"Yah!" 

Yuqi awkwardly stood there while hearing their conversation before quickly tuning out to listen to Chowon's small concert. The kids cheering on for the newly debuted idol grew louder as they sensed that she was close to finishing. Yuqi soon forgot about Jungeun and Eunseo's banter a couple feet away as Chowon finally concluded her performance with the iconic ballad song from her album. Once finished, the crowd dispersed and it was about almost 9PM.

With that, it was time to end the day of fun for them all as the kids had wanted to go home and rest after all this mess. Yuqi, on the other hand, made sure all of the stuff they'd bought in the mall were safe and that everyone had their bags with them before starting the car. One by one, like in the morning, Lena, Chaerin, Jiheon, Bada and Doah were dropped off at their respective homes, finally leaving just get and a sleeping Yeojin. Yuqi chuckled hearing her softly snoring while comfortably snoozing in the backseat. The drive back to their house didn't take long when they soon arrived and Yuqi parked in the driveway. Unlike last time, she didn't want to carry Yeojin all the way into her room again, so she had to wake up the younger girl while carrying their shopping bag full of games and Pop figures. Entering the house, they both immediately got ready for bed, Yeojin being difficult because she kept falling asleep while brushing her teeth so Yuqi had to do it for her. Afterwards, they both finally made it to bed, sleeping in their own rooms.

Then, morning came.

**Author's Note:**

> I finally figured out how to create a series 🤡


End file.
